Determined artist in Nalgonda sees brighter side of life

Nalgonda: Ramavath Suvarna, a fluorosis victim who could not even eat food by herself, developed her artistic skills by overcoming her disability and now stands tall as a role model.

The 22-year-old tribal woman, a resident of Saibanda thanda of Kudabaskhpally gram panchayat in Marriguda mandal of Nalgonda district, was crippled due to fluorosis. She began drawing pictures with pencils and sketch pens that turned her life from distress to confidence.

Affected by fluorosis at the age of five, her hands and legs were crippled by the time she was seven, forcing her to drop out of school. Due to skeletal fluorosis, she was unable to move her hands, but her strong willpower helped her become an artist.

To meet her daily expenses, she started selling pictures drawn by her to the children in the tribal hamlet at prices ranging between Rs 2 and Rs 10.

Discovering her talent, Jalagam Sudheer, a NRI, provided oil paints and drawing sheets to her a month ago.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Suvarna said she was a self-taught artist and says hours of hardwork made her good at her work. “I am unable to eat food on my own and my mother was spending all her time trying to earn our daily bread. My family was facing untold problems due to fluorosis. One of my younger brothers also died of fluorosis,” she said.

Interestingly, Suvarna’s first paintings were that of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, IT Minister K T Rama Rao and Nizamabad MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha. She said it takes her three days to complete a picture — one day for outlining the drawing and two days for painting the picture.

Stating that she could come do better with training, Suvarna expressed her wish to meet the Chief Minister and K T Rama Rao and present them some of her works. Sudheer said, “When I tweeted the photos to KTR, the Minister replied: ‘Thank You Very Much Suvarna’ and assured her of all help. We are planning to conduct an exhibition of her drawings in Hyderabad,” he added.

He also took the initiative to sell pictures drawn by Suvarna to help her make money. He had recently posted a picture on Facebook page of ‘Brand Telangana’ for auction and within few hours, the bidding reached Rs 5,500 and was expected to increase further.

A research scholar of Nalanda University in Bihar, Amar Preeth, who toured Marriguda mandal for a case study, also bought a pencil sketch of Lord Ganesh made by Suvarna and put it on display at the university.